[Mcrosno]

I got my roller crimper today, looking forward to seeing how this works in a couple weeks.

 

[b8hickman]

That crimper looks pretty good. Where did you get it from? What is your plan for using it? I have watch Dr Grant for years and would like to get one also. However, I can't afford a seed drill so I had wondered if you could just broadcast the seeds, maybe at a heavier rate, and then use the crimper to kill the surrounding plants and cover the seeds.

 

[Mcrosno]

That crimper looks pretty good. Where did you get it from? What is your plan for using it? I have watch Dr Grant for years and would like to get one also. However, I can't afford a seed drill so I had wondered if you could just broadcast the seeds, maybe at a heavier rate, and then use the crimper to kill the surrounding plants and cover the seeds.

I ordered it from Advance Cover Crops Home - Advance Cover Crops in June and he sourced it from Progressive Ag Innovation to get it here in time for fall food plots and to save on shipping cost.

My plan is to use my Firminator as close to a no till drill as possible to put out the seed and then come back and crimp down the existing plants. I was planning to do that this weekend, but need to wait and see if we are forecasted to get any rain next week. I don’t want to put out the seed if it isn’t going to rain pretty soon after.

I have no practical working experience with any of this, but have heard several people say that you can broadcast and then crimp. The crimper folds over and kills the existing plants creating a good layer of mulch/duff to protect the seeds that were just broadcast.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

We have a 38% chance of rain on Sunday, with no other day higher than 24% in the next two weeks. Do you all typically put the seed in the ground and wait for rain, or wait till there is a day with a good chance and then plant the day before?

 

[TripleOG]

I would not plant until I know I’m getting a quality rain and have a good shot at rain in next two weeks. You’ll get germination and plants are too dependent on water and fragile and will die. If you have to plant mid to late September that will still be ok for plots.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I went ahead and planted all my fall food plots yesterday and we ended up getting some rain last night and early this morning so it worked out pretty well. Hopefully we get a rain a week to keep them growing.

I put out a bunch of different types of seed, Drop Tine Fall Reload, Full Draw 7, Clover and Grain and Fall Fuel, then Green Cover Fall Release, Brassica Plus and Clover Plus. These two brands from what I can tell actually mix seed that will benefit the deer and the soil(even if Green Cover blatantly copied off of Drop Tine). They seem vastly superior to the blends that you can get from the big box stores that are mostly filled with the cheapest seed. It would cost a lot more money to mix all the different types of seed yourself to get the same diversity. I’ll monitor them with exclusion cages this fall and into the spring.

Also now that it’s past September 1st, I started some protein feed, refreshed my mineral sites and got all my cell trail cams set up.

I walked around the 30 acres that we did TSI on and was very pleased with the results so far. The trees we used hack and squirt on with chemicals are starting to brown up and should allow for a lot more sun light hitting the forrest floor next year. You can see all the trees with brown leaves in the picture below, the goal was to get down to a 60 basal area. Not sure if enough trees were terminated for that, if not we will go back through and do another round of hack and squirt. I am planning to do a controlled burn next year as welI and with the TSI and hoping for an explosion of natural forbs and cover.

I’m going to try to get out there tomorrow to crimp down to terminate all the existing vegetation, to create a good layer of duff/mulch for the new plots to grow through and hang some tree stands and put out some exclusion cages.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I crimped all the food plots today, it seemed to work well, but I have a feeling that there are going to be lots of weeds this fall. I think I might have to spray and then crimp next fall to kill all the weeds and still get a good layer to protect the next round of plants.

Essentially it’s kind of like seed and straw for a yard, you’re just using the previous plants to create the straw.

The row of Drop Tine vanish for screening around the big plot is looking and working good. Next year I think I am going to mix in corn and sunflowers into the screening mix to see how it works.

 

[b8hickman]

Looks good. I have never thought about putting corn or sun flowers in a screening. That sounds like a good idea as long as it's not to screen your movement. I may try it myself next year.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I got a little bit of work done today, late start recovering from the Hogs game last night!!

I was able to put together the stand for my Dillion blind. This week, I am hoping to get some footings for it dug and poured and install it next Sunday. The view from the platform looks great though. On the attached picture I’ll be able to see the whole food plot, the red area is the Drop Tine Clover and Grains, the yellow is Drop Tine Fall Reload, the purple is the Drop Tine Full Draw 7 and the blue is Green Cover Brassica Plus. Then you’ll be able to see the fruit trees, which will hopefully be a big draw in a couple years when they start to produce. All of the plots are roughly the same size, even though it doesn’t looks like it from the picture. The areas between the plots were Earnst Seed Native warm season grass and forbs. Hoping this starts growing well next year. I’ll probably over seed or frost seed some more switch grass into it spring 2022.

The crimping seems to be working so far and while it’s hard to tell from the picture several of the existing plants are dying and creating a good duff layer for the new seeds to grow out of. We are supposed to get some rain this week and we need it.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I'm starting to get worried aobut the fall food plots I planted on 9-4, we had a good rain on 9-5 and now nothing. We were supposed to get some today and yesterday the percent chance dropped to nothing and no rain again today. In the 2 week forecast there isn't a day that has a higher change then 35%. We are getting some pretty heavy dew in the mornings, but I would assume that evaporates off before it does anything.

Someone with some experience, with a decent rain right after planting and now nothing for 10 days and potentially nothing for the nest 14 days also, are the seeds toast?

Thanks,

 

[Buckbob]

The dew could be enough, but I’d say there’s a good chance they’re done. I planted turnips and oats in mid-August and got a good rain the next week. Everything came up then, but it got hot and dry and everything died. The good news is this is Arkansas and you still have a while you can plant and get a good crop to grow. I know several guys on here don’t even start planting until at least October. If you have the ground cleared, you can still throw out winter wheat, oats, or cereal rye and get a good food plot through the fall and winter.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I'm not completely sure that the first little round of rain was enough to cause the seeds to starts growing, maybe they will make it. If not I'll have some cereal grains lined up to broadcast real fast prior to our next rain event.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

Well, the hard work this off season paid off on Sunday, it was a long day and a long story but I got it done. One of the shooter bucks that I have on camera gave me an 80 yard shot at 9 am, I was hunting with a crossbow, not being a big fan of muzzleloaders. At 415/second and 80 yards the arrow took almost .6 seconds to get there and the buck ducked and lunged hard at the sound of the bow resting on the fiberglass blind. I initially thought that I missed but my bolt was logged in the ground almost vertically. I waited about 15 minutes and snuck over to look at the arrow, there was blood and it was bright red, but no bubbles. I decided to wait 2 hours before looking since I wasn't sure how good the shot was.

At 11 I got on the first blood that I could find, which happened to be where he ran back into the wood and flowed what I thought was a great blood trail, till he crossed the creek and started going up hill. Around 12:15 and after tracking blood up the hill I heard a deer about 50 yards ahead of me get up and trot a little. Thinking that it had to be him I decided to back out and give it more time. At 3pm I went back to where I had stopped earlier and could not find another drop of blood, so I went to where I thought he got up earlier and walked in the direction I thought he ran. About 30 minutes later I found him laying in some thick brush. I just flat out go lucky to find him.

The entry was back and low, but he was quartered away from me so the bolt went in and exited in about the perfect spot on the other side, but missed most vitals. While happy to find him, I was pretty down on myself for the bad shot time it took for him to expire. More lessons learned, seems like that is always the case with whitetail hunting.

I think he will score right in the 140 range, which I am very happy about.

Now I'm focused on the youth hunt and getting my kids on a good one.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

Red line on the On X screen shot below is me tracking the blood trail, I think that On X messes up sometimes on tracks when you are moving slowly, while I was zig zagging around looking for blood at times, it wasn't as much as On X shows, but it was quite the blood trail.

 

[Whiskey River]

Good buck. Always a great feeling when the hard work you put in actually pays off.

 

[b8hickman]

Very nice buck. It sure is a good feeling when the hard work pays off.

 

[Bigboss01]

I was fortunate enough to buy an 80 acre property in NWA in January 2020. Fortunately I was so busy with work this past year, I unfortunately wasn’t able to make any significant habitat improvements. I scrambled to hang a couple stands the weekend before bow season and ultimately didn’t see any of my “shooter” bucks captured on game cams during daylight hours while on the stand.

In 2021 this winter, spring and summer I am going to do my best to carry out my management plan to increase cover/security, browse and food on the property. Ultimately I’m looking to turn this relatively small property into the best habitat for deer in the area and grow/harvest some mature deer.

Yesterday I started by buying a tractor, I was able to find a 2016 Kubota MX5200 that I am going to pick up next week. I’m pretty excited to be able to put this thing to work for future improvements to the property.

My goals for January are:

1. Mark trails and food plots around the property for a dozer operator to clear this winter/spring.
2. Controlled burn on the 6.5 acre fescue field to convert to a spring, summer and fall food plot.
3. Receive and plant fruit, nut, berry bushes and evergreen trees. The fruit and nut trees for a forever food plot and the evergreens for screening from the neighbors and road.
4. Get a contract for TSI and future controlled burns with a habitat management company.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress and hopefully you guys can help point me in the right direction along the way. I’ve got a lot of work to do but can’t wait to get started.

View attachment 293340 View attachment 293342

I have a question. I'm looking to do this sort of stuff for a living. I'm wanting to start a business managing land for hunting and providing the service you're talking about. Would you pay others to have these goals met and have personal assistance in improving your hunting experience?

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I have a question. I'm looking to do this sort of stuff for a living. I'm wanting to start a business managing land for hunting and providing the service you're talking about. Would you pay others to have these goals met and have personal assistance in improving your hunting experience?

I pay someone to do the TSI and controlled burning, since I am not knowledgeable enough on the subject nor do I have the time to do it. The rest of the items I enjoy doing myself as a way to get away from the daily grind. At this time I think that I am set with the company that I have been using for that work. Thanks.

 

[Dyecreek2020]

I got all my spring food plot seed ordered today. I have 8 different plots and I am going to plant the following:

1. Droptine Spring Reload.
2. This plot was in Droptine Fall reload and I am going to see how it comes back this spring and then plant Summer Reload in it in June.
3. Green Cover Spring Release.
4. Eagle Big Buck Non-GMO soy beans with Spring Triticale and Clover.
5. I am going to frost seed in Green Covers Early release in late February probably and see how that does.
6. Droptine Spring Reload.
7. Droptine Clover and Grains.
8. Droptine Spring Reload.

Around the outer edge of the big field that has plots 1-4 in it, I am going to plant a screening mix by mixing together Droptine Vanish, Green Cover View Blocker, Sunflowers, Forage Sorghum and Egyptian Wheat.

I also have some more fruit trees and berry bushes coming to replace the ones that dies last year and add some new. I have some more Arborvitaes coming to plant for future screening from the neighbors.

Hoping to have a busy Late winter / early spring at the property making some good habitat improvements. In addition to the food plots and trees, I am currently working on scheduling a controlled burn, TSI for the 40 acres that didn't get done last year, putting up a redneck blind in one of my plots, putting up a couple of Millennium stands in the other plots, hinge cutting funnels and some more miscellaneous projects.

Stay tuned....

 

[jackie53]

Can't Hide money....Lol.congrats